


Blue

by howells



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Coffee Shops, Fluff, M/M, author!dan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-08
Updated: 2015-02-08
Packaged: 2018-03-11 06:08:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3317012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/howells/pseuds/howells
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dan is an author, and he (sort of) accidentally bases a character on Phil the Cute Starbucks Barista.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Blue

“What would you like?” the attractive Starbucks barista asked Dan.

            “Um, tall vanilla latte, please,” Dan answered.

            “Your name?” the barista asked, grabbing a cup.

            “Dan,” Dan answered, noting that the barista’s nametag said ‘Phil’. Dan paid for his drink and sat down at a nearby table, pulling his laptop out of his bag. The rainy evening and nearly empty coffeehouse provided the perfect writing environment, Dan noted.

            “Vanilla latte for Dan!” the barista called. As Dan got up from his seat to grab his drink, he noticed that the barista had blue eyes, like the color of the stack of Post-Its Dan carried in his bag at all times.

            Dan sat back down at his table with a sigh. He was twenty thousand words into his current novel, but he just _couldn’t_ write the next chapter. It was the big love scene between the main character and his love interest, but the words refused to sound right. Not to mention that Dan couldn’t get Phil’s sticky-note-colored eyes out of his head.

            Dan pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation, opening a new Word document before he could talk himself out of it. _Your deadline is in two months_ , Dan chided himself. _Now is not the time for pleasure writing_.

            But, before Dan completely registered what he was doing, Starbucks was closing, and Dan had typed a three thousand words of a story about a blue-eyed boy.

. . .

Dan went back to Starbucks the next day, but, unfortunately, there was a different barista. Furthermore, the sun was shining obnoxiously, and the coffeehouse was full to the brim.

            Dan decided he needed to find a new coffeehouse, even if it meant never seeing Phil the Barista again.

. . .

“Your shift starts in ten minutes,” Louise reminded Phil as she re-stacked a pile of coffee cups.

            “Can you cover for me for, like, five minutes?” Phil asked, barely looking up from his book. Louise scoffed at him, and Phil added a quick “Please.”

“What are you reading, anyway?” Louise asked, snatching the novel from Phil’s hands when he didn’t respond. “ _Blue_ by Daniel Howell. Hm.”

“Give that back!” Phil complained, retrieving his book. “You made me lose my page.”

“What’s it about?” Louise asked, wiping down a nearby counter.

“Look it up,” Phil advised distractedly, turning to the next page of _Blue_.

“I’m busy,” Louise insisted, holding up a wet rag to demonstrate. “Just tell me what it’s about.”

“It’s about a lot of things,” Phil said vaguely as he marveled at _Blue_ ’s protagonist’s character development.

“Um… what’s the main character like, then?” Louise asked, deciding she might as well cover Phil’s shift. She owed him, anyway.

“They’re kind of… mysterious,” Phil explained. “The reader doesn’t know their name, gender, age, _anything_ -except that they have blue eyes.”

“You don’t even know the main character’s name?” Louise asked skeptically. “What kind of book is this?”

“It’s genius, actually,” Phil insisted, finally looking up from his novel. “All of Howell’s books are amazing. The language is so intricate and vivid, it’s like everything’s happening right in front of you.”

“Let me see that,” Louise said, taking _Blue_ from Phil and quickly reading the first chapter. Though Phil read more often than Louise did, Louise was (quite unfairly, Phil thought) a much faster reader.

“This is actually really interesting,” Louise said sincerely, returning the novel to Phil. “I think I’ll get myself a copy.”

“Don’t spoil it for me!” Phil said, remembering the time Louise had completely ruined PJ Liguori’s _Lullaby Cube_.

“I won’t,” Louise promised.

Phil didn’t believe her at all.

. . .

“Phil, there’s something I need to tell you about _Blue_!” Louise exclaimed over the phone.

            “There’s nothing left to spoil for me,” Phil argued. He was only halfway through the book, but, thanks to Louise, he already knew almost every major plot point.

            “The main character is named Phil!” Louise said excitedly.

            “What? No way,” Phil said dismissively.

            “It’s true!” Louise insisted. “Check page 439.”

            “I can’t believe I’m doing this,” Phil murmured as he skipped forward a hundred pages. “There’s no-oh my god, it’s my name!”

            “I _told_ you!” Louise reminded him proudly. “He’s a twenty-something guy called Phil, _and_ he has blue eyes, black hair, and a ‘sunny smile’. That’s _so_ you.”

            _He really is quite similar to me_ , Phil thought to himself, examining the cover of _Blue_. It was simple but striking: a pair of almost luminescent blue eyes, surrounded by a sea of gray. Phil wondered vaguely if the author had blue eyes. Daniel Howell’s book jacket photo was just a picture of him from the back, so Phil took to the internet.

            Upon searching ‘Daniel Howell’, Phil found a picture of an attractive, strangely familiar brown-haired man. Phil clicked on the top result, a link to Daniel Howell’s blog, and read the bio on the sidebar.

            _Hello. I’m Daniel Howell, but most people call me Dan. I like writing, rainy days, and vanilla lattes. Purchase a copy of-_

            Phil stopped reading as the facts clicked together in his brain. Dan. Vanilla lattes. Writing. _Blue_.

            Phil backspaced to the image results for ‘Daniel Howell’. He looked _exactly_ like the cute customer from nearly a year ago. Phil didn’t typically remember customers’ faces, especially customers from that long ago, but he had a special place reserved in his mind for remembering extremely attractive strangers.

            And one of those attractive strangers happened to be Phil’s favorite author.

. . .

Dan’s left hand felt completely numb. Dan was only an hour into the book singing, but he already felt exhausted. _Maybe I could use my right hand_ , Dan thought to himself. He grabbed a pen with his non-dominant hand, tried to sign his name on a blue Post-It note, and then cringed at the scribble that resulted.

            “Hello,” said a soft voice from above Dan. “Could you make it out to Phil, please?”

            Upon hearing his protagonist’s name, Dan immediately looked up from the book he was about to sign.

            “Holy _shit_ ,” Dan whispered. _It was Phil the Barista_. Dan could recognize that face in his sleep. “It’s _you_.”

            “So you _are_ the guy from Starbucks!” Phil said, grinning a bit. “You named the protagonist after me, didn’t you?”

            “Yeah,” Dan answered, still completely shocked. “Sorry about the whole ‘turning you into a fictional character’ thing. I can credit you, if you’d like. Just _please_ don’t sue me.”

            “I wouldn’t sue my favorite author,” Phil replied, his grin progressing into a complete smile. “I’m still not over the fact that you based a character on _me_.”

            “I could take you out for a drink to make it up to you,” Dan suggested. The fact that there was a line of people waiting to get his autograph had been completely dampened by the realization that Dan was Phil’s favorite author.

            “I’d like that,” Phil said with a smile. “I guess you’d better get back to your signing, though.”

            “God, no,” Dan joked, waving a quick goodbye to Phil before tackling the huge line of books before him.

. . .

Phil realized about fifteen minutes later that he’d forgotten to give Dan his number.

            “You get a date with your favorite author, and you just _have_ to go and forget to exchange contact info,” Phil muttered to himself, struggling to adjust the tote bag that was slung over his shoulder. Unfortunately, Phil completely failed, and the precariously packed contents of the bag fell in a pile on the ground.

            Phil let loose a few quiet choice words as he bent down to gather his things. The copy of _Blue_ he’d been carrying was open to the page with Dan’s signature on it. Upon retrieving the book, Phil realized that there was way more than just an autograph.

_To: Phil the Cute Starbucks Barista_

_Thank you for (sort of) allowing me to base a fictional character on you. I’m forever in your debt._

_-Dan Howell_

_P.S. Call me! 4567-2745_

_XXX_


End file.
